For all the debate over whether the best coffee comes from a Chemex or a French press or an AeroPress (even Nespresso), sometimes you just want to turn on a machine and let it do the work. We asked ten coffee drinkers — food-industry professionals and just plain coffee snobs — what’s the coffee machine that’ll get you a simple at-home brew without all the fuss?
Breville's 12-cup Precision Brewer is stacked with features that allow you to fully customize your coffee, like adjustable brew temperature, bloom time, strength and more. It also has settings for making cold brew, iced coffee, or the Specialty Coffee Association's standard Golden Cup. It's beautifully designed thanks to its sleek brushed stainless steel exterior and LED-lit digital display. Just note that you'll have to spend time exacting your preferred settings, especially when you first set it up.
“I actually didn’t start drinking coffee on a regular, daily basis until four or five years ago. I got hooked on the smoothness and low acidity of cold-brewed coffee, and for the longest time, my ritual each morning was to visit Gimme! near my house on Lorimer. Recently, though, I’ve started making cold brew myself at home with the OXO Good Grips Cold Brew Coffee Maker. It’s not a true drip-coffee machine, but I’ve been very happy with this piece of equipment — it lets me tinker with different beans and concentrations, and produces enough cold brew to last me two weeks at a time. It also stacks compactly for storage, which is an absolute requirement for my tiny New York apartment.” — Dennis Ngo, caterer at Lonestar Empire
The machine itself is large, but not as monstrous as some of the other grinders I tested. It's also very bottom-heavy, which makes it feel more durable than other machines and means it won't rattle all over your counter while grinding. The heavy-duty translucent plastic collection cup generates less static cling than the glossy clear plastic cups I tested, and the chute that connects the burrs to the cup collects less debris than other models. Cleaning is simple: Just remove the top burr and use the included wire brush to remove residual grounds.
Feature-filled and powerful, the K475 Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker features customizable settings including strength and temperature control to deliver a truly premium brewing experience. Brew five different cup sizes – from 4 to 12 oz. with K-Cup(R) pods – plus the ability to brew a mug or carafe, the product brews a perfectly sized beverage for any occasion. Brewing your favorite beverage is easy thanks to the large color touchscreen, complete with separate settings for specialty...
The gist: Okay, so in case any connoisseurs out there have been reading this section and thinking "a portable espresso machine takes the art away from espresso-making," this one's for you. Flair claims that this model was the answer to their question "What is the minimum needed to brew a professional-level shot of espresso?" The resulting product is this single-lever machine that doesn't need pods or electricity. It pulls a quality shot at 8-16 bars of pressure, has a 60ml water capacity, and brews a single cup in 25-45 seconds. You can get it in either black or chrome colors.
If you’re not one yourself, you definitely know one. Espresso, which originated in Italy, is a finely ground, highly concentrated version of coffee that packs a punch of caffeine into a single one-ounce shot (or two, if you’d like a double-shot), making it richer and stronger than a regular cup of coffee. People who drink espresso know that it’s all about quality, which means if you’re not getting your tiny cup of life from your local barista, you best do your research and invest in a worthy espresso machine to make it at home.
The best part about this machine is that it comes with everything you need (except the beans). You don't have to spend an extra $100+ on a good grinder or $25-$100 on a milk frothing pitcher and tamper. You will pay a bit more for it than other machines on this list, but it's well worth it — especially now that this machine costs $548.96 instead of $999.99.
The Mr. Coffee DRX5 coffee maker gives you the advanced action to delay-brew your coffee, enabling you to wake up to coffee waiting for you. The auto pause and grab a cup option allows you to get a cup of coffee before the brew cycle is finished, with the machine halting the brewing process so you can pour a cup and then complete the process once you reinsert the carafe into the chassis.
The gist: The Nespresso Pixie is an Amazon's Choice product and boasts a 4.5-star rating. It pumps espresso with 19 bars of pressure and has a 25-second heat-up time. It has two one-touch buttons (in case you want a single espresso or a slightly larger "Lungo" serving), a 0.7 liter water tank and an empty water tank alert that let's you know when you're running low on H2O. The machine also comes with a welcome kit that includes a range of capsules featuring various flavors.

The gist: The Nespresso Inissia is very similar to the Pixie. It also comes with one-touch options for either a single espresso or lungo cup size. It pumps with 19 bars of pressure and also heats up in less than 25 seconds. With over 2,500 reviews, it stands out with a 4.4 star rating on Amazon. The Inissia has more or less the same internal workings as the Pixie (including the 0.7 liter water tank), so the quality of espresso produced should be pretty identical. The difference: unlike the Pixie, which is made of metal, the Inissia's exterior is mostly plastic and has a slightly funkier design. However the Inissia comes in several colors, including red, black, silver, and titan.

Crave cappuccino? Love latte? You’re in luck: the PrimaDonna automatic espresso machine from De’Longhi can brew a range of milk-based beverages, complete with steamed or frothed milk. The adjustable automatic cappuccino system combines steam and milk to create the thickest, longest-lasting foam for your cappuccino. And it’s easy to adjust the levels to prepare a creamy latte.
This grinder produced the most even grounds out of all the machines I tested, and its range of output is all-encompassing. The coarsest setting produces large flakes, while the finest setting produces puffy grounds akin to powdered sugar—perfect for Turkish coffee. In between, I was quickly able to find the ideal settings for my Hario Woodneck, Aeropress, and even mason jar cold brew.

"Love the Flair. Bought about a month ago and have been dialing in my home roasted espresso routine. The crema production is unrivaled even with commercial machines costing 5x more. Any shot less than spectacular is due to user error or inadequate grinds/bean quality. Using this device has been a treat and I thoroughly enjoy the fun ritualistic aspect. There is something to be said for physically pressing out all those tasty flavors rather than letting a machine. Owning the flair puts you in full control of every single aspect of the shot and allows for pressure profiling which no device can do cost effectively. Highly recommend the signature chrome and it looks stunning as a permanent countertop staple. Just found out you can make espresso with room temperature water that produces some outstanding results."

The gist: Okay, so in case any connoisseurs out there have been reading this section and thinking "a portable espresso machine takes the art away from espresso-making," this one's for you. Flair claims that this model was the answer to their question "What is the minimum needed to brew a professional-level shot of espresso?" The resulting product is this single-lever machine that doesn't need pods or electricity. It pulls a quality shot at 8-16 bars of pressure, has a 60ml water capacity, and brews a single cup in 25-45 seconds. You can get it in either black or chrome colors.

Breville's 12-cup Precision Brewer is stacked with features that allow you to fully customize your coffee, like adjustable brew temperature, bloom time, strength and more. It also has settings for making cold brew, iced coffee, or the Specialty Coffee Association's standard Golden Cup. It's beautifully designed thanks to its sleek brushed stainless steel exterior and LED-lit digital display. Just note that you'll have to spend time exacting your preferred settings, especially when you first set it up.

That said, it’s not as elegant to use as the OXO machines. (Nor is it as nice to look at. One tester described its tall, bulbous body and squat carafe as “UFO-like.”) Take its eight-button controls, for example, which you use to toggle among brew modes, scroll up and down within the menu, and engage a manual brewing feature. Programming it to start brewing at a certain time was about as intuitive as setting an alarm on a clock radio — easy enough, but more technical than sleek. OXO definitely feels like the future; Behmor is more, “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
For many of us, the daily grind can't begin until we've had that first cup of piping hot coffee—so the right brewer is at the top of the list. The most basic coffee makers make at least a decent cup, but a little more money buys conveniences such as programmability, a thermal carafe to keep coffee hot longer, settings that let you adjust brew strength, and more.